Must Reads For The Week 9/3/16

ECONOMICS

Hurricane: Florida AG To Prosecute “Price Gougers”, by Tho Bishop, at mises.org. Increased demand for scarce resources means prices will go up. Higher prices tell consumers to demand less, and producers to supply more. Scarce resources will be sent to Florida where they are needed the most because of the high prices. And people in Florida will only purchase what they need of these scarce resources at these higher prices. Prices ration scarce resources.

Free Trade Wins: The TTIP Is In Trouble, by Mark Thornton, at mises.org. Hillary and Trump don’t understand that trade deals made by politicians only benefit crony corporations at the expense of consumers. Here is a great trade deal: Individuals in our country can trade with individuals in other countries without interference from Government rules and regulations.

As Predicted, Obamacare Is Absolutely Killing The Middle Class, at zerohedge.com. We were promised that health insurance payments would decrease, but they have exploded. These higher premiums hurt the middle class the most. Wealthy people can afford the increase, and poor people will get taken care of with our tax dollars.

Venezuela’s Latest Response To Food Shortages: Ban Lines Outside Bakeries, at zerohedge.com. The old saying in the former Soviet Union was, “If you see a line starting to form, get in it!” Lines are a way to ration scarce resources in socialist economies. In Venezuela The National Superintendency of Fair Prices (that sounds like wonderful agency) is going to fine bakeries that let lines stretch out their front doors. They say the lines are forming because their political opposition is trying to win the propaganda war. Propaganda doesn’t keep food off of store shelves or stock the shelves with food. Individuals cooperating in free markets bring food to store shelves.

The Happy Reality That Sports Stars Get Paid More Than School Teachers, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You pay a higher price for scarce talent. Excerpt from the article: “So let me ask: would you prefer to live in a world in which the number of people who can skillfully fight fires and teach children is large but the number of people who can skillfully play sports and act is very tiny, or in a world in which the number of people who can skillfully fight fires and teach children is very tiny but the number of people who can skillfully play sports and act is large?”

Demographic HomeMageddon Underway….Will Last Until 2035, at zerohedge.com. Free markets will deal with the demographic shift in the population of the US. Government intervention into the economic realities created by demographics, will turn these realities into real problems.